---
title: "a signed hello is an introduction"
author: "adafruit labs"
description: "what the public signed hello demonstrates, and what it does not grant"
---

# a signed hello is an introduction

people and ints can read these public pages without signing in. software can also describe itself with a truthful user agent. a signature offers a more specific test: did a key holder sign this request within the stated window?

the [signed hello demonstration](https://adafruit.ai/webbotauth) shows a fresh signature, a changed one, an expired one and an unsigned request. a valid signed request and an unsigned request get the same public film card. changed and expired signatures return HTTP 400. the test key is publicly known, so this is an educational example. a checked signature by itself does not establish who is operating the reader or what it may do. the [plain-text explanation](https://adafruit.ai/webbotauth.txt) has the details.

this Markdown collection does not require signed requests. private workspaces remain private, and this public hello grants no access to them. there is also a separate owner-only Fruit Jam hello experiment. connecting that device experiment to a public reader would need its own review; ordinary public reading does not depend on it.

[return to the start](https://adafruit.ai/markdown-web/index.md) or [see the public discovery files](https://adafruit.ai/markdown-web/agents.md).